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Category: Marketing
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Ways to Boost your Email List
So let’s start off with the bad news first to get it out of the way…
“Email marketing databases naturally degrade by about 22.5% every year.” – Hubspot
How can that be? The biggest reason is because people switch jobs, they retire, finally get a new email address because they are still using AOL, things like that.
Thankfully, GOOD NEWS is here to stay…
“The average expected ROI is $42 for every $1 you spend on email marketing.” – Data & Marketing Association
Considering this statement, that is why the ‘quality over quantity’ phrase is so true! It does not matter if you have 10 or 200 people signed up to receive your email, what matters is their engagement. So although we are talking about how to grow in email marketing, we want to stress the importance of keeping your subscribers active as well.
In-Person
This could be word of mouth, a sign up sheet in a local business, attending craft shows or festivals in town, business cards, local events, the possibilities are endless! Human interaction is still very effective – it’s harder for people to turn you down when you are standing in front of them. Who knows, they might actually like your company after they give it a shot!
Website
Email features have become more and more popular. However, you don’t want to hound them for meaningless information. Keep it simple – name and email. You can find out details later after building a relationship with them! You can also get as creative as you want with it. Here is a simple example from Country Living:
New Content
Whether it is a free online tool, resource, brand structure, contest or promotion, you can use a landing page to gather email addresses. You want them to see it as a ‘bonus’ to get something in return because let’s face it, nobody does anything ‘just because’ if they aren’t benefiting from it. While getting your new content out there to the Internet, you could also ask them for feedback from a live chat tool. This could be through social media or your website for people that have stayed on your page for a certain amount of time.
Social Sharing Buttons
For people to want to share your content, it has got to be top notch. When you are able to fine tune it, you’ll have more confidence to encourage your subscribers to share on social media or forward your email to colleagues which makes it important to still include a Call to Action to subscribe in your emails (even though the people you originally emailed it to are already subscribed).
We hope these tips can help you get recognized in your community. Keep in mind that:
You’re only as successful as your least engaged subscriber.
Thanks for reading and don’t forget to keep up with us on our social media!
Feel free to look back at our previous posts for more content!
- Holiday-Ready Websites: How to Capture More Seasonal Sales (Without Rebuilding Your Site)
- Google Business Profiles: The Secret Weapon for Successful Small Businesses
- Wayne County Clerk of Court | A Forward Digital Marketing Special Build
Always Looking Forward,
Shelby
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Are You Riding the Struggle Bus?
Let’s face it, everybody struggles. Some days, you may even feel like you are driving and the brakes have gone out! The awesome part about it is that challenging situations can lead to success, wisdom, new strength, and better opportunities. So whether you are struggling in the digital marketing department or just winding through life’s twists and turns, we have some helpful tips and suggestions to get you off that bus and driving your own vehicle.
#1: Stretch every dollar you have
Whether it be investing in our local businesses, fine tuning your target audience in ads, or connecting with other companies, make sure that every decision you make has a purpose behind it. For example, you only have $50 in your budget for the month to do all your social media advertising. No need to panic. You can advertise on Facebook and run your ad for as low as $3 a day. This will give your ad at least 15 days to run. That’s half of a month! While it may be frustrating dealing with numbers (I know that struggle), prioritize and make the most of it. If you know that you only have a limited amount of money to run the ad, make sure it is the best ad you could possibly create that will generate as many new followers and page likes as possible.
#2: Enhance your landing pages
If you’re seeing a good amount of impressions but not a lot of engagements, it may be because the places potential customers click aren’t grabbing their attention. When you see a cute pair of shoes you want or a special tool (for you men), you don’t want to click through 5 different pages to get to the checkout page or search the page for 10 minutes trying to figure out how to purchase them. Keep them reeled in with a simple and user-friendly website. This will have them coming back for more if they are impressed by the ease of use.
#3: Think differently to generate new leads
Establishing a strong online presence while being a small business can seem like a big mountain to climb. We know you have spent endless hours of your time pouring your heart and soul into a business. If your vision and end goal you have just seem too unachievable, take a deep breathe and know that it is okay. These are crazy times we are living in – you have no one to blame, especially not yourself. While taking that deep breathe, step back and adjust your sails. A lot of businesses have been learning new ways to operate because of COVID restrictions. It could end up being a great blessing in the end!
I have only touched the surface of what small businesses are facing in today’s society. If you’d like to read a more in-depth article of struggles within digital marketing, check out the Why Your Company Struggles to Master Digital Marketing Maturity article from Forbes.
I look at struggle as an opportunity to grow. True struggle happens when you can sense what is not working for you and you’re willing to take the appropriate action to correct the situation. Those who accomplish change are willing to engage the struggle.
– Danny DreyerWe would love for you to comment or share this post and tell us what has gotten you a ticket on the struggle bus before. If so, how did you manage to navigate your way to a better mode of transportation?
Always Looking Forward,
Shelby
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5 Ways to Increase Social Media Productivity
Are you struggling to get a good following for your new business? Have you been around for years and want to give this ‘social media’ thing a try? We can help you!
Every company has to start somewhere so don’t get discouraged!
We have some great tips to share with you on how to stay positive through this time of growth – from our business to yours!
1. Join question and answer sessions.
Although this doesn’t directly affect your social media and amount of activity on it, you can always learn something new! I recently attended a virtual webinar that the UGA Small Business Development Center conducted. It focused on the importance of having a Google My Business page, mainly for the fact that that’s how a lot of people look up business hours. If people can’t see what your business looks like, what times it is open, or a phone number to contact, they are more likely to look somewhere else for what they need. It was an interesting webinar and I didn’t expect to walk away from my work day having that much more knowledge about Google My Business. There are also PLENTY of webinars and videos out there for you to watch. I was recently asked to join another UGA webinar previously and liked it so much, I signed up to receive emails on other topics related to our business they are doing and found the Google My Business webinar. I’m really glad I didn’t miss my chance of attending. Make sure you research and find organizations that directly affect the business you do.
2. Create Facebook ads.
This doesn’t have to be an expensive project. Fortunately, Facebook is extremely cost-efficient. $30 will get you a long way with more engagement and impressions than you would think. Instead of getting discouraged that your page isn’t getting the attention it deserved and your last resort is to pay for an ad, think of it as an opportunity to get your name out there to people. And hey, if it doesn’t do as good as you thought, at least you only spent $30 (except I don’t think you will have that issue).
3. Follow relative people and businesses.
I’ve seen so many new Instagram pages that just start following thousands of random people to beef up their following. That will only result in them later unfollowing you because they aren’t interested in the content that you are putting out. What I would recommend is starting with your location first. For example, if your business is in Jesup, GA, search that and see what comes up. Follow other local businesses and people that you know around that area. They are more likely to be a loyal follower because they are familiar with what you do. If you operate a Constant Contact account, it would be beneficial for you to also look and see what kind of people you send your email blasts to. If you are sending them emails regularly and they haven’t unsubscribed, I would assume they wouldn’t mind a mutual follow with your business on social media either.
4. Find an analytic platform to track progress.
When we first changed over to Forward Digital Marketing from Web Electronics, Inc., one of the first things we did was set up an online scheduling system that all the team members could work from. This set us up for a collaborative approach to help everyone stay on task and keep in the loop with each other without actually acknowledging every time someone completed a task or project. With this scheduling system (we use CoSchedule), it also helps us see the best times to post our social media. This gives us the best chance to catch eyes of the most amount of people…and we didn’t even have to do anything! Although your own research helps, it is very helpful to have a computer do it for you. Facebook also has its own analytics program that you can find under the Insights tab on your business page.
5. Everybody loves free rewards.
Who doesn’t love free stuff?! This is a great way to get the people that already do follow you more involved. This in turn will get those followers talking about your business and be serving as ambassadors for your company without even knowing it! So, whether it be a photo/video submission, sharing what they love about your business, or a like, follow & share contest, it’s amazing to see what people will do for a free gift.
As you go along, it will get easier. You will be able to see what works and what doesn’t. Forward Digital Marketing wishes you all the best in your journey navigating the World Wide Web.
As always, how can we help you with your Social Media Productivity?
Always Looking Forward,
Shelby